Knowde Enhanced TDS
Identification & Functionality
- Plastics & Elastomers Functions
- Technologies
Features & Benefits
- Materials Features
- Metal Plating
Diamonds dramatically enhance durability and tribology in a range of metal plated finishes including environmentally friendly alternatives to hard chrome.Diamonds dramatically enhance durability and tribology in a range of metal plated finishes including environmentally friendly alternatives to hard chrome.
Electroless Nickel plating with uDiamond®
Electroless Nickel (EN) with uDiamond® is a coating that offers excellent properties in resistance to abrasive and adhesive wear, corrosion, has high hardness and is highly conformal. It is capable of replacing chromium coatings in many applications and is environmentally safe.
Easy to implement to existing process
The EN process requires very little changes to existing EN lines and has proven to be cost competitive and stable. The uDiamond® EN Plating additive is added to the traditional EN plating process bath. Because the deposition is in nanoscale, the required concentration in the plating solution is very low. The process stability can be controlled and maintained so that the normal number of plating cycles/ MTOs are achieved.Strength and anti-corrosion improvements
EN with uDiamond® delivers a +200% improvement in wear resistance in electroless nickel. The solution can be tuned for abrasive or adhesive wear, or a combination. Corrosion resistance can also be enhanced.Cost efficiency
uDiamond® creates impact at very low concentrations. The process leads to conformal and high quality coating, without need for post processing. Therefore EN with uDiamond® has proven to be cost competitive in a large number of industrial plating applications.Main applications for using EN with uDiamond® are:
- mold plating for improved durability and release
- plating of high wear parts for industries
- enhancing current EN plating process
- replacement for hexavalent Chromium
- replacement for trivalent chromium
Hard Chrome plating with uDiamond®
Hard chrome plating with uDiamond® creates an extremely hard coating with excellent wear resistance and tribology properties for the most demanding applications. The uDiamond® addition enhances wear resistance by up to 100%, and reduces friction by up to 30%. Corrosion resistance can also be better than standard chrome because of reduced porosity by control of the micro cracking structure. uDiamond® is added to the traditional Chrome bath as an additive with minimal changes to the process or plant. Typical applications are in high performance components, such as engine and machine parts, as well as mold tools.
Anodising with uDiamond®
Addition of uDiamond® to hard and soft anodising processes are in development, please contact us for more information.
Industries benefiting the uDiamond® enhanced plating process:
- Automotive
- Aviation
- Military
- Machinery
- Oil and gas
- CVD Seeding
Seeding materials for enhancing CVD diamond growth.
Chemical Vapor deposition (CVD) seeding is a rapidly growing application for nanodiamonds. Carbodeon uDiamond® liquid dispersion is applied to the substrate as a thin layer, for example by spin coating, and then the water or solvent is evaporated. The aim is to achieve a very fine coating of nanodiamond particles on the substrate surface, ideally only a single particle in depth (4-6nm). These nanodiamonds will seed the growth of thin films including diamond thin films. Our materials significantly outperform other forms of diamond seeding materials including powders or dispersions from our competitors.
Carbodeon co-development model
Carbodeon is able to provide uDiamond® liquid dispersions suitable for various substrates/ CVD processes. Please contact us regarding your application.
- Silicones & Epoxides
Diamonds bring everything except compromise to thermal interface and thermal management materials.
uDiamonds added to silicone and epoxide materials create polymer composites with significantly improved properties. The changes are due in part to the numerically high mechanical and thermal properties of diamond, and in part due to nanoscale effects obtained by dispersing small particles into the polymer material.
Typical Silicone-Nanodiamond applications:
- Increasing thermal conductivity of thermal interface materials in combination with other fillers, without affecting electrical isolation
- Increasing abrasion resistance
- Extending both the high and low temperature limits of operation
- Other properties still being explored
Nanodiamond may be added as a powder, using high shear and/ or ultrasonic dispersion, by pre-milling the nanodiamond together with other fillers, or via a compatible solvent borne dispersion.
Typical Epoxy-Nanodiamond applications:
- Increasing thermal conductivity of thermal interface materials in combination with other fillers, without affecting electrical isolation
- Increasing the strength of adhesives
- Increasing abrasion resistance of coatings and composite components
- Improving the impact resistance of composite panels
- Extending both the high and low temperature limits of operation
Carbodeon co-development model
We work closely with our customers to ensure the product achieves the targeted improvements. Nanodiamond may be added as a powder, using high shear and/ or ultrasonic dispersion, by pre-milling the nanodiamond together with other fillers, or via a compatible solvent borne dispersion.
We have direct experiences of polymer nanocomposite formulation in both silicones and epoxides so please do contact us to discuss your application.
- Thermally Conductive Thermoplastics
Diamonds and diamond-filler mixtures for high performance thermally conductive thermoplastics.
Excess heat is the enemy for electronical devices, LED´s and batteries. uDiamond® filler material enables the highest performing thermally conductive thermoplastics in electronic & LED applications.
By adding a small amount of uDiamond®, thermal conductivity increases of 100% can be achieved without compromising electrical or mechanical properties. Typical diamond concentration is below 1%, with additions as low as 0.03% in cost sensitive applications.
The performance improvement is driven by the high thermal conductivity of the diamond material at >2000W/mK, the small particle size and the active surface chemistry, resulting in seamless thermal conductivity between polymer, diamond material and other fillers.
Carbodeon is working extensively in thermoplastic compounds, but silicones and epoxides are also applicable materials for nanodiamond composites.
In published tests, Carbodeon has achieve the following:
- Substitution of 0.03wt% uDiamond®* into a PA66-15% BN material: Increased Tc 25%
- Substitution of 0.10wt% uDiamond®* into a PA66-15% BN material: Increased Tc 25-100%
- Substitution of 1.50wt% uDiamond®* into a PA66-15% BN material: Increased Tc 130%
Carbodeon co-development model
Most of the Carbodeon customer applications are tailored and solution specific. We work closely with our customers in order to ensure the product can achieve the targeted improvements.
- Wear Resistant, Low Friction Coatings
Diamonds are your weapon in the war on wear & friction.
Many industrial and consumer applications benefit from having a protective coating with low friction and dirt repellent features, while still maintaining high wear and corrosion resistance. As examples, frying pans can be made multiple times more hard wearing, and high performance coatings on automotive components can enhance performance, efficiency and durability.
uDiamond® coatings and additives are used worldwide in solvent or water based paints, resins, fluoropolymers and other specialized coatings. uDiamond® can bring improvements in durability of up to 300% and friction reduction of up to 66%. Improvements are in both adhesive and abrasive wear.
Main application areas include:
- Fluoropolymer coatings – PTFE, FEP, PFA
- Wear resistant, low friction coatings for lubricated or unlubricated machinery or engine parts
- Automotive, aerospace, oil & gas, industrial, marine etc.
- Acrylic, epoxy and polyurethane coatings
- Durable coatings for industrial and consumer products
- Coatings for medical, industrial, food processing and other industries
- Wear resistant coatings with retained transparency and other optical properties
- Coatings with tuned refractive index
Carbodeon co-development model
We work closely with our customers to ensure the product achieves the targeted improvements. Nanodiamond material may be added to coating formulations using one of our specific uDiamond® coatings additives, nanodiamond liquid dispersions or functionalized nanodiamond powders.
- High strength / Harsh Environment Thermoplastics
Diamonds add strength, toughness, wear and thermal conductivity to thermoplastics.
uDiamond® nanodiamond is added to popular thermoplastics including PLA, PC, PA, PAI, PEEK, PTFE in order to enhance the performance. The popular Carbodeon uDiamond® PLA is an example of what can be achieved: increased strength and toughness, wear properties and thermal conductivity without altering the electrical conductivity or color.
Typical nanocomposite applications:
- Increasing abrasion resistance
- Increasing tensile strength and Young’s modulus
- Increasing fracture toughness
- Increasing thermal conductivity without affecting electrical isolation
- Reducing the coefficient of thermal expansion
- Extending both the high and low temperature limits of operation
Carbodeon co-development model
Carbodeon can offer uDiamond® enhanced materials as thermoplastic granules/ pellets for injection molding or as filaments for 3D printing.
We work closely with our customers in order to ensure the product can achieve the targeted improvements. Achieving a good dispersion of nanodiamond in the polymer is important, and may require the use of a compounding step using a twin screw extruder, a pre-combination of nanodiamond and other fillers in a milling process, or the addition of nanodiamond in a compatible solvent dispersion. Carbodeon has direct experience in polymer nanocomposite formulation so please do contact us to discuss your application.
Nanodiamond polymer composites exhibit several different properties compared to the equivalent unmodified polymer. The changes are due in part to the numerically high mechanical and thermal properties of diamond, and in part due to nanoscale effects obtained by dispersing small particles into the polymer material. The surface functionalisation of the nanodiamond particles means they will interact with the polymer molecules, as well as any other filler materials present. Particularly in the case of polymers containing fillers, the modification in properties is very high, even when extremely low amounts of nanodiamond are added.
Applications & Uses
- Applications
- Compatible Polymers & Resins
- Plastics & Elastomers End Uses